Disinheritance

Disinheritance is a legal concept that applies only to inheritance. It means excluding a person from an inheritance and depriving them of the forced share (legítima) they would otherwise be entitled to.

Grounds for disinheritance

A valid disinheritance must be made by the person wishing to disinherit, in a will, codicil or succession agreement. When doing so, the grounds should be stated as fully and with as much justification as possible, to avoid problems in the future.

The grounds must be among those set out in Article 451-17 of the Civil Code of Catalonia:

• Refusing maintenance to the testator, or to their spouse or stable partner, or to their ascendants or descendants, where there is a legal duty to provide it.
• Serious physical and/or psychological ill-treatment of the testator, or of their spouse or stable partner, or of their ascendants or descendants.
• Suspension or loss of the parental authority the forced heir, as a parent, had over the testator (their child), or that the forced heir, as a child, had over the testator’s grandchild, for reasons attributable solely to the forced heir.
• A clear and continued absence of any family relationship between the deceased and the forced heir, for reasons attributable solely to the forced heir.

In addition, there are the so-called grounds of unworthiness to inherit, set out in Article 412-3 of the Civil Code of Catalonia, which do not need to be expressly mentioned in a will, codicil or succession agreement. A person is unworthy to inherit when they:

• Were suspended from or deprived of parental authority over the testator’s child, for reasons attributable to them.
• Maliciously induced the testator to make, revoke or change a will, succession agreement or other provision on death, or prevented them from doing so — as well as anyone who, knowing of these facts, took advantage of them.
• Destroyed, concealed or altered the will or another provision on death of the deceased.
• Were convicted by final judgment in criminal proceedings of intentionally killing or attempting to kill the testator, the testator’s spouse or stable partner, or any of the testator’s descendants or ascendants.
• Were convicted of intentionally committing offences of serious bodily harm, against freedom, of torture, against moral integrity or against sexual freedom, where the victim was the testator, their spouse, their stable partner or any of the testator’s descendants or ascendants.
• Were convicted by final judgment of slandering the testator by accusing them of an offence punishable by more than three years’ imprisonment.
• Were convicted by final judgment of giving false testimony against the testator, where the sentence exceeds three years.
• Were convicted by final judgment of an offence against family rights and duties, in the succession of the victim or of the victim’s legal representative.

Effects of disinheritance

The disinherited person loses their forced share. If they have descendants, those descendants inherit the forced share in their place (right of representation).